Cool headings with pseudo-elements
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Join For FreeWhether you’re designing a website or a web application, you’ll need custom styles for headings like h1 or h2. In this article you’ll learn how to create some cool headings effects using CSS pseudo-elements.
Introduction
So, why pseudo-elements? The answer is very simple: there is no need to add extra markup. This fit perfectly for the heading we’re going to create here.
The HTML
<h1 class="headline1">I took lessons</h1>
As you can see above, there is no rocket science here. Just a simple HTML heading with a CSS class that will properly style it. All the other headings use a similar HTML structure, so it can’t easier than that.
<link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Droid+Sans:700" rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
Also, for this demo, we’ll use a Google custom font.
The CSS
Further, we’ll use the body as our main wrapper:
body{ width: 60%; margin: 50px auto; padding: 15px; position: relative; /*needed for heading4 rule*/ z-index: 0; /* again, just for heading4 rule*/ border: 7px solid #cecece; border: 7px solid rgba(0,0,0,.05); background: #fff; background-clip: padding-box; box-shadow: 0 0 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, .5); } h1{ font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 22px; }
Noticed the background-clip: padding-box declaration? This will help you achieve a cool effect: transparent borders for the main wrapper. Basically, the background-clip CSS property specifies whether an element’s background, either the color or image, extends underneath its border.
Browser support for background-clip: Safari 5+, Chrome 7+, Firefox 3.6+, Opera 10+, IE 9+
Headline 1
Below is a simple and good looking effect made using CSS border property:
.headline1 { border-bottom: 1px dashed #aaa; border-left: 7px solid #aaa; border-left: 7px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2); margin: 0 -15px 15px -22px; padding: 5px 15px; }
Headline 2
This style is made using a CSS triangle shape, you’ve seen this before here:
.headline2 { border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa; margin: 15px 0; padding: 5px 0; position: relative; } .headline2:before, .headline2:after{ content: ''; border-right: 20px solid #fff; border-top: 15px solid #aaa; bottom: -15px; position: absolute; left: 25px; } .headline2:after{ border-top-color: #fff; border-right-color: transparent; bottom: -13px; left: 26px; }
Headline 3
The below HTML heading style is created using the ribbon effect:
.headline3{ position: relative; margin-left: -22px; /* 15px padding + 7px border ribbon shadow*/ margin-right: -22px; padding: 15px; background: #e5e5e5; background: -moz-linear-gradient(#f5f5f5, #e5e5e5); background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#f5f5f5), to(#e5e5e5)); background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#f5f5f5, #e5e5e5); background: -o-linear-gradient(#f5f5f5, #e5e5e5); background: -ms-linear-gradient(#f5f5f5, #e5e5e5); background: linear-gradient(#f5f5f5, #e5e5e5); -webkit-box-shadow: 0 -1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,.8) inset; -moz-box-shadow: 0 -1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,.8) inset; box-shadow: 0 -1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,.8) inset; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #fff; } .headline3:before, .headline3:after{ position: absolute; left: 0; bottom: -6px; content:''; border-top: 6px solid #555; border-left: 6px solid transparent; } .headline3:before{ border-top: 6px solid #555; border-right: 6px solid transparent; border-left: none; left: auto; right: 0; bottom: -6px; }
Headline 4
Using box-shadow, you can create some slick effects:
.headline4{ position: relative; border-color: #eee; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 5px 5px 0; background: #fff; margin: 0 0 15px -15px; padding: 5px 15px; -moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.3); -webkit-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.3); box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.3); } .headline4:after { content: ""; position: absolute; z-index: -1; bottom: 15px; right: 15px; width: 70%; height: 10px; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, .7); -webkit-box-shadow: 0 15px 10px rgba(0,0,0, .7); -moz-box-shadow: 0 15px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, .7); box-shadow: 0 15px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, .7); -webkit-transform: rotate(2deg); -moz-transform: rotate(2deg); -o-transform: rotate(2deg); -ms-transform: rotate(2deg); transform: rotate(2deg); }
Conclusion
I hope you liked my headings examples, and if you have some other cool ones to add, feel free to share your thoughts with us. Thanks you for reading!
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Published at DZone with permission of Catalin Red, DZone MVB. See the original article here.
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